C1403-C1404 General Chemistry

I feel obligated to write a review for professor Friesner, because I think he does get a bad reputation from all of the other CULPA reviews below. Friesner is a good guy, but a bad professor. However, that is not to say that it is impossible to get a good grade in his class. Although he teaches straight out of his slides, be aware that his slides are based off of the Zumdahl book and that his exams are based off of his slides. So therefore, his exams are straight out of the book. I went to maybe 50% of the lectures, and got an A+ in that class. The easiest way to do well in his class is to read the book at the same pace as he teaches. The Zumdahl book is straightforward, and so are his exams. As long as you read, you'll do fine. Also, the TAs are extremely helpful, because they know that Friesner doesn't do a good job of teaching such simple topics (he often goes on ridiculous tangents into really advanced chemistry), so go to office hours and recitations, because they will help.

Friesner posts practice exams with answer keys before each midterm, and posts the actual midterms with your answers after each test. He is very generous with giving back points, so argue for your points!

Also, know that he is teaching GEN CHEM I, which means that there are a lot of people who think that they're going to be pre-med, but can't handle the workload in that class, creating an extremely generous curve.

He's a good guy, bad teacher. But by the end of the course, if you put in the effort, your grade WILL be an accurate reflection of how much chemistry you learn.

It would be unmerited to characterize what happens in Friesner's lectures as "teaching." He simply reads verbatim from the extremely elementary PowerPoint slides that he has managed to throw together.

These same slides are always posted on CourseWorks, so by the third or fourth lecture, most people eliminate the middle man, read the slides themselves, and stop wasting time at his classes considering that they are simply an opportunity for Friesner to recite the information to you.

Unfortunately, most of what's covered during the semester will essentially need to be self-taught, which is no small task considering the complexity and the inherently confusing nature of the material.

Needless to say, the best part about this Chemistry class for me was when it came to a conclusion.

This was a very fair class. The lectures were not particularly interesting, as Friesner essentially read off his slides. Occasionally, he offered some extra information but the tests did not contain any material outside of the powerpoints and the textbook. The midterms were very fair. Most of the material is covered in the powerpoints and the review before the midterms (25 MCQ) covers a lot of the topics that will be on the midterm. The questions on the midterm were sometimes quite annoying (lots of which one of these is not true) but they were doable if you studied well. The recitation was also very fair. My TA was not an exceptional teacher but he did a fair job. Overall, this class was fairly easy. You don't need to go to lectures to do well (I stopped going after the first three weeks). Just self-study and look at the powerpoints.
Midterm One: Class Average: 70-75
Midterm Two: Class Average: ~65
Midterm Three: Class Average: 70-75
One midterm is dropped and there are 7-8 recitation quizzes (2 dropped; average of quiz grades is equivalent to another midterm). Midterms are 20 percent each
Final is 50 questions and counts for 40 percent. The class is curved ridiculously. The class average is curved to a B and one standard deviation above is an A. For those who have previous chemistry experience, an A is not very hard to obtain.

Professor Kaufman is an O.K. professor. She teaches basically straight forward from the book. It is more than possible to never attend class and do just fine if you are a diligent reader of the textbook.

She seems kind of stand-off-ish, and not willing to help, but I could be wrong; it was just the vibe I received.

Her teaching is mediocre. She doesn't present the material in the clearest way and goes on awkward paces. I am not saying she is a bad teacher, but she isn't a good one. She doesn't give homework which is bad and good, depending on how you look at it. She also makes you do clicker questions for extra credit, but it isn't necessarily useful, just a trick to attend the useless classes.

Her tests are completely retarded, but not in a good way. It is one way to expect you to be creative in solving problems, but the stuff is completely different from what we learned in class. The tools necessary are not given.

I think the previous review was a bit harsh. Yes, he makes a bunch of mistakes in his notes. But I never had trouble contacting him by e-mail. Although I never tried to go to his office hours.

I also think if you find it hard to learn things from him, his two TAs are amazing. I had Zak, who is really on top of his chemistry and goes out of his way to teach you anything you ask about. Zak's quizzes are tough, but the curve is generous.

I'm a chem or biochem major, and I honestly didn't find this class bad. It's very straightforward. The notes are put up on online on the first day, and there really is no point to showing up to lecture, which I appreciated considering my other classes were kicking my ass.

My only recommendation is not to take this class in the evening. Taking tests this late in the evening really has an effect, and I think my grade might have suffered from that.

Louis Brus is a nice man, and is evidently knowledgeable about his subject. That said his lectures are hard to follow because of the poor acoustics of the chemistry auditorium, and his inadequate microphone system. General Chemistry is a let down of a class, even for those interested in the field. The second two midterms basically cover orbitals and nothing else, and it can get very tedious. That said, Brus's lecture slides are phenomenal. I gained very little through my attendance, and simply read through the slides to achieve a decent grade. The midterms are challenging, but the final basically used the same questions. So study those answer keys! Also, don't forget to attend recitation in its entirety every week. The TAs are great and you'll learn a lot more through them than from the lecture.

He is really hard to follow. Not because he is too fast or too complicated but because his voice is the most monotonic voice in the world. I really try hard. It just doesn't happen, his words don't go through. If you want to take genchem from him and you don't have a chem background, get ready to spend time with the book. I'm surviving via my TA. This is personal opinion though shared by many others.

Parkin is a fun teacher. His magic tricks are hilarious, and I'm sure he's better than a lot of professors in the chem department. However, his class is not nearly as easy as everyone makes it out to be -- particularly towards the end. The final focuses on material learned on the last day of class, in a huge fifty slide long lecture on organic chem...? Weird. Just be wary of his teaching -- and stay on top of your stuff -- the exams get harder as the semester progresses. On the flipside, the curve and opportunities for bonus points are wonderful.

Jason is clearly very excited about the power that he associates with being a TA. He was available and held review sessions when the other TA (Matt something) hardly even attended class.
Other than that, I cannot think of a single positive thing to say about him. He is one of the rudest individuals I have ever met. He got into arguments with multiple students and has some serious aggression issues. He regularly and openly belittled students. For example, he made fun of one student's poor grades in front of a large group of students.
His favorite quote is "memorize it." I think that he honestly didn't understand a lot of the concepts and was ashamed of this fact. Whatever the reason, his role as a TA is to explain concepts and not just tell us to memorize things.
His lack of chemistry knowledge also made it very difficult for him to lead section. He was, frankly, the worst TA I have ever encountered. Not only did he not have a firm grasp of the material, but he is such an offensive individual that I did not even want to be in the same room as him.

He sucks!!! His powerpoints are straight off the text book and he doesn't really explain anything. All questions are answered with "you don't need to know that for the exam" What if I want to know just because I'm actually interested in Chemistry beyond passing the exam? If you have him, make sure you pick a good TA.